Restarting life in Siheyuan

Many people couldn't help but look at the two sisters standing at the door and licking their hands, with purple icing all over their fingers.

"This is what Uncle Feng brought back. It's delicious. We each have two pieces." Niu Xiaoben, who had not been seen for a long time, brought his friends from the backyard back home to find food. They crowded over and talked a lot.

"In fact, as long as you don't steal or rob, your two sisters will each have two pieces. Even now, if you confess, I can still give them."

When he heard that it was returned, Banggeng was a little tempted, but after all, he was a lot older, and he immediately realized that this was a trap. It would definitely not be possible to admit that he had robbed it. He was no longer a child and knew that some things would anger everyone. He was no longer the little kid who would act stupidly when he was stunned, especially in front of Zhu Xuefeng.

"Stealing is stealing, robbing is robbing, you dare not take responsibility for what you did." Zhu Xuefeng shook his head, looking angry at the lack of resistance, and he could no longer hold back his anger.

"I, I took it from Grandma Yi's house. What's the matter? Everyone knows that Grandma Yi likes me. I always eat at Grandma Yi's house. Taking some food is nothing."

Zhu Xuefeng was a little surprised by the boy's quick wit. What he said did make some sense. He has indeed grown up a lot. Compared with the last time when he snatched dates from his little sister, he knows how to argue. Zhu Xuefeng has no interest in arguing with him.

"Xiao Ben, your mother can't come back to cook, so let's go to my house to eat. Please help me call Yingtao and Guodong over and let them talk."

"Okay, Uncle Feng." Niu Xiaoben squeezed out of the crowd and ran away happily. After a while, he brought the two timid siblings over. Zhu Xuefeng pulled the two siblings over, one in each hand, and held them beside him.

"Cherry, tell everyone, did Banggeng steal the candy from your house? Don't be afraid, I'll take care of it for you. Did he make your mother mad?"

Seeing Zhu Xuefeng's encouraging eyes, Little Cherry also gained courage and pointed at the stick. "It was him, it was him, he took it and ran away. My mother told him to stop, but he ignored her. That's why my mother was so angry."

"Girl, don't open your mouth. My grandson went to your house to get some food. What's the big deal? I know now. You are relying on your numbers to bully an old woman like me. You have no conscience, Old Jia..."

After saying "Old Jia", Jia Zhang subconsciously stopped talking and paused.

"Bang Geng, grandma knows, you are right, your grandma went to the hospital because she was not feeling well. Let's go home. In broad daylight, a whole yard of people bullied us. I don't believe no one will do anything. Don't be afraid, my dear grandson, grandma will report it to the street office tomorrow. There is a bully in our compound."

Wow, it seems that three years of labor reform have really made Jia Zhang grow a lot. He is no longer like before, throwing tantrums and throwing tantrums. His sophistry has become much more logical.

How could he know how many people Jia Zhang had argued with in prison, how many times she had been disciplined and taught a lesson, and how much progress she had made.

"To take something without permission is called stealing, and to flee even after being stopped is called Jia Zhang, you can't stop talking about it. Banggeng is also robbing. He is so young, and he can be saved when he grows up. Banggeng, come here."

Jia Zhang was speechless for a moment. Bang Geng shrank his neck and looked at his grandmother. Jia Zhang reacted and protected Bang Geng.

"You said you stole, so you stole. You said you robbed, so you robbed. I even said that you robbed this candy from foreign countries. You stole it, but you lied with your eyes open. What are you doing? Everyone, go away. Tomorrow I will go to the street leader to seek justice. You little bastard, now you are pretending to be a big shot."

Seeing that Jia Zhang was becoming more and more arrogant, Zhu Xuefeng was about to teach her a lesson, but Yingtao didn't expect that she got the courage to directly accuse him.

"He is a thief. He always comes to our house to steal money. My mother has discovered him several times."

Bang Geng's face suddenly changed, and Jia Zhang was also anxious. "You are talking nonsense. If you keep talking nonsense, I will tear your little girl's mouth apart. You can't talk nonsense and slander others. When Yi Zhonghai comes back, I will ask him to discipline him."

A more delicate voice came out, "Don't bully my sister, he always comes to steal money. He came to steal again yesterday. My mother said that he stole two more dollars."

"You're talking nonsense. I didn't do that. I'll beat you to death, you wild kid from the mountains."

Everyone looked at Bang Geng's gradually changing expression and began to talk and point fingers again.

"Xiao Ben, come here."

After whispering a few words to Niu Xiaoben, Niu Xiaoben happily went into the Jia family again. Jia Zhang didn't notice it. When she reacted, Niu Xiaoben had already gone in with his friends. She could only watch.

Bang Geng struggled and roared loudly. "Niu Xiaoben, come out quickly. If you dare to steal things from my house, I will beat you to death."

But I saw Niu Xiaoben coming out with his friends in the backyard, laughing and carrying a schoolbag and a small paper bag in his hand.

"Uncle Feng, I found it."

"Open it." Zhu Xuefeng said coldly. Since he was so ungrateful, he would make him embarrassed.

There were ten neatly arranged one-dollar bills in the schoolbag, and three two-dollar bills folded into small squares in the small paper bag.

"This is my money, I didn't steal it."

When Banggeng saw Niu Xiaoben coming out with a schoolbag and a small paper bag in his hand, he knew something was wrong and tried to make excuses.

"This is all the money I earned from selling scraps. Give it back to me."

Jia Zhang also looked at Bang Geng in confusion. After she was released, she had no private money left and could only force Qin Huairu to give her three yuan a month. She had only saved six yuan so far. She didn't expect that her grandson would be richer than her.

Zhu Xuefeng turned around and broke off a thin branch from the locust tree beside him. Bang Geng's heart tightened, thinking that this guy was really going to harm him, and he screamed even louder.

"I earned it by selling scraps, and you are framing me."

Zhu Xuefeng walked over with a dark face and grabbed the stick. Jia Zhang was not paying attention and watched her grandson being dragged away, and she was about to rush forward to grab it.

Zhu Xuefeng looked back at her, his eyes full of coldness.

"You have played an indispensable role in your grandson's current state. If I don't discipline him for you, you might lose him."

Jia Zhang wanted to speak again, but Zhu Xuefeng continued to stare at her with a cold look in his eyes. After all, he had killed several people. The murderous intent in his eyes made Jia Zhang shudder, as if she were a big white pig that had been washed and skinned dry, facing the butcher's sharp knife, she was so scared that she couldn't speak.

"Bang Geng, let's not talk about where the money came from. Let your mother take care of it. Anyway, the recycling station is not far away. They have account books. We can go there and find out whether the money was given by them. Today I will only teach you a lesson. You robbed the things of these two siblings and made your grandmother angry. You almost lost your life. Tell me, which hand stole it?"

It was obvious that Zhu Xuefeng was going to hit himself with the branch, and Bang Geng was really anxious now.

"Even if I robbed them, so what? They were two wild kids from the mountain valley. I robbed them, and it's none of your business. You killed my father, and now you want to kill me. Your whole family will die a miserable death, just like your father."

It was a bit unexpected that a slap hit Banggeng in the face. Banggeng was slapped so loudly that a slap mark immediately appeared on his face. He was stunned and confused.

At this moment, no one was complaining about adults bullying children. The key point was that the words were too vicious and did not sound like something a child of this age could say. Everyone's eyes unconsciously turned to Jia Zhang.

"Ms. Jia Zhang, this is your Bang Geng. See if he's talking sensible words? I killed his father? Who taught him this? You must have taught him. Do you want to let everyone know why his father died?" The crowd started talking. It turned out that there was a hidden story behind Xiao Jia's death. It was also a bit strange that a good person died after being sent to a labor camp.

"How dare you curse our Zhu family? Who gave you the courage? If I don't punish you today, I won't be able to use this surname anymore."

Jia Zhang didn't have the courage to speak. The cause of her son's death could never be revealed. Not to mention herself, her eldest grandson would also be pointed at and criticized for the rest of his life and would not be able to hold his head up. He would never be able to marry in his lifetime, and the old Jia family would be completely cut off.

"Also, your grandson is now considered a city dweller, with a household registration, but you don't, right? You are from Zhangjiagou, your Jia family is also from the valley, and your Qin Huairu is also from the foot of the mountain. Banggeng, do you know that your grandparents and your mother are all from the valley? I'm not afraid to tell you that my family is also from the valley. There are only a few families in this compound who are not from the valley. Who are you looking down on? You yourself are a grandson of the valley!"

Then, without further ado, he pointed at the stick with his branch and said, "Whose hand grabbed the candy? Show it out."

Seeing Zhu Xuefeng got furious, Banggeng, who was called stupid and dazed, didn't dare to resist. He just looked back at his grandmother, but saw that his grandmother didn't dare to say a word.

"Normally, I shouldn't have to meddle in your affairs, but it was the candy I brought back that caused this incident and almost killed your grandmother. I'm going to teach you a lesson today so that you know what you can and can't do in the future."

After a few hits from the branches, several glaring red marks appeared on the little hand. After a while, he felt the pain. Once the pain started, it was unbearable. He could no longer bear it and covered his right hand with his hands and cried loudly.

"Why do you hit me? Why?"

Bang Geng's eyes were red and he was crying and howling. Zhu Xuefeng had just grabbed his hand and he couldn't break free at all.

"I'll tell my mother to settle the score with you." Grandma can no longer be relied on. Banggeng heard his mother say in a daze that she had found a backer, and asked his mother to go find the backer for help to avenge him.

Seeing that Bang Geng refused to repent, Zhu Xuefeng showed no mercy. He threw down the branch and watched the two Liu brothers who had slipped back home at some point.

"Guangtian, Guangfu, you two go to the scrap collection station and find out how many times Banggeng went there to sell scrap and how much money he received. Find out for sure, it's fifty cents per person."

"Great!" The two boys were stunned by this unexpected wealth. They secretly went out to do odd jobs after the holiday, and could not earn more than three or four cents a day. They quickly agreed and ran out of the compound.

Banggeng even sat down on the ground, covering his right hand with his hands, not even bothering about the heat.

"Uncle Feng, Uncle Feng, we can do it too, we can do it too." Niu Xiaoben and a group of friends surrounded Zhu Xuefeng and shouted.

"Go, go, you are just helping, 1 cent each. Xiao Ben, remember to come over for dinner later." But 1 cent could not stop the enthusiasm of these boys, and they ran away in a swarm.

As soon as I reached the door, I met a few workers who were returning from get off work.

"Xiaohua, why are you running around? Come back quickly..."

“Dad, don’t worry about it. I’m going to earn money. I have a dime…” As Xiaohua responded, a group of boys ran far away. They had to catch up with the two Liu brothers. When they finished their work, they would be embarrassed to take the dime if they didn’t help. Only a few workers who didn’t work overtime were left outside the yard in a daze…

...

"You are so bored. You are busy with so many things yourself, why do you care about other people's naughty children?"

After seeing off Cherry and her brother, Xia Yuhong was still complaining in a low voice. Zhu Xuefeng looked at Niu Xiaoben, who had earned a dime and was playing carefree in the yard.

"I was a little bored, and it almost caused a disaster, so I couldn't help but take action. Well, I don't think this kid can be saved, so let him be."

"Xiao Hong, forget it. This guy finally came back. Stop talking about him all the time. Let him tell us about his school life and what's going on over there now."

Lin Na, who was cleaning the dishes at the side, spoke up, and Xia Yuhong let the man go. The younger sister looked at the three strange people and realized that the eldest brother was also afraid of Sister Xia.

Zhu Xuefeng glanced at the little sister and said, "I don't have much to say. I just study, do experiments, and research new materials. Oh, it's not that I haven't made any achievements. I designed a big thing with someone else. Now the drawings have been submitted. I don't know if you can help me!"

"It's the cave-drilling machine you mentioned last time."

"Well, the design is finished. Let's see if it can be used in our subway project."

"Brother, what have you planned? Digging a cave? Pangolin?" the younger sister asked with a strange look on her face.

"Go and play somewhere else, your brother is doing serious work. That's a machine, where did the pangolin come from?" He rubbed the little sister's head lovingly, causing the little girl to roll her eyes again and go to tidy up her messed up hair.

"By the way, how are you two doing now?"

It’s not convenient to talk about things outside here, so Zhu Xuefeng changed the subject.

"Sister Na is working as a translator at a newspaper and is extremely busy. I am now doing an internship at the Ministry of Commerce. Uncle Luo is quite caring towards me. He heard that I studied economics and is asking me to familiarize myself with the foreign trade process."

"Uncle Luo? When did you have an Uncle Luo in the Ministry of Commerce?"

"My dad met him at the Canton Fair. We became acquaintances after visiting each other a few times. Uncle Luo is also from Hubei Province. His hometown is Jingzhou."

I had met Lao Luo at the Canton Fair together with Secretary Chen. I didn't expect that he became familiar with Lao Xia and they were actually from the same hometown. No wonder Xia Yuhong was able to intern in the Ministry of Commerce. Logically speaking, many people majoring in English would be like Lin Na, finding a translation job or transferring to the diplomatic system.

...

"Well done, this kid is getting worse and worse. He actually went to an old man's house to steal money. If you don't discipline him, we'll have to call the police to handle it."

Sha Zhu and his wife came back earlier than their overtime colleagues. As soon as they entered the yard, they heard that Brother Zhu had returned, so they hurried over to see. Lin Na then pulled Xia Yuhong and Zhu Xuemei into the north room.

Upon hearing about Banggeng's incident, Shazhu was furious. He liked Banggeng very much when he was a child, but now this kid even dares to steal from an old man's house. It's really unkind.

"Qin Huairu comes home so late every day, and his grandmother just released him. It's not surprising that the child has been left unattended for several years."

Lou Xiao'e was not surprised at all. Although she didn't know what Banggeng was like in the past, if she left a ten-year-old child to take care of himself, there was a high probability that he would grow up in a wrong direction.

"What do you think Sister Qin is busy with every day? How can a guesthouse be busier than our cafeteria? Why does she come back so late every day?"

(End of this chapter)